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Singleton's Triple-A tear continues

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Singleton's RBI triple 0:20

3/14/14: Jon Singleton triples on a line drive to right-center field, bringing home two in the bottom of the seventh

By Brian McTaggart
/
MLB.com |

OAKLAND -- The gaudy numbers first-base prospect Jonathan Singleton has been putting up at Triple-A Oklahoma City this season have certainly been noticed by Astros management. He entered Sunday hitting .343 with seven homers, 23 RBIs and a 1.205 OPS.

Singleton, who was named the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week for the first week of the season, hasn't let up. Since winning the award, he is 10-for-27 (.370) in six games with six extra-base hits, including three homers and eight RBIs. His 23 RBIs lead all of the Minors, while his seven homers also lead the PCL and are second overall in the Minors.

"The most important thing is we're excited he's performing the way he is at Triple-A," assistant general manager David Stearns said. "As [general manager] Jeff [Luhnow] has said before, he doesn't have the Triple-A experience a guy like George [Springer] had when we called him up, but he gained it and he'll continue to gain it.

"More than anything, we're just excited and pleased that he's taken to this challenge the way he has. When we sent him down at Spring Training, we told him he was going to let us know when he was ready to come up here by his performance, and so far he's doing an outstanding job. We'd like to give him more time to continue to work on the aspects of his game that we identified with him that needed some improvement. So far he's addressing them."

Singleton has already surpassed his home run total over 73 games with the RedHawks last season, season in which he missed the first 50 games following a second failed drug test. Singleton also leads the league with 14 extra-base hits and 52 total bases, and ranks second with a .776 slugging percentage and 18 runs scored.

"We're certainly not surprised he has gone down there and done this at Triple-A," Stearns said. "Up until last year, he had been a dominant Minor League player at every single level. The fact he's risen to the occasion there isn't surprising. It's exciting for us, and we're looking forward to that continuing."